Tuesday, 1 December 2015

There are many occasions when a naval officer would need a pair of henchmen. Hired muscle, guards to a vital control centre, jailors, sentries...the list goes on. After painting up my Fleet Officers a few weeks ago, the logical next step was to make some goons for the officers to order around.

Bubbling to the surface of my mind were the two soldierly chaps standing to attention in the Martin McKenna illustration below.﻿

The base models for my Armsmen were the PR11 Imperial Guardsmen (commonly known as 'Cadian at Ease') - these were promotional figures available at several Games Workshop events in the early 2000s.

The Cadians at Ease were the right pose, but their tiny, modern helmets lacked the look I wanted. So out came the razor saw and a pair of Mark Copplestone Rogue Trader Imperial Guardsmen, and the change was made.

"I'm sorry, the Commodore is too busy to see you today. I could however arrange a private hearing this evening...for a fee."

Armsmen Priestman and Stilley have served in the Imperial Navy for several decades, working their way up through the Rating ranks. Currently posted to the command of Commodore Chance, they are personal aides to Lieutenant Pender. Their impassive faces present an intimidating deterrent to any chancer looking to get one over Lieutenant Pender, and they are more than happy to look the other way during the Lieutenant's 'under the counter' dealings. As long as they get their cut, that is.

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Priestman and Stilley got the same colour scheme as their officers, with the addition of the slate grey body armour. I chose grey as a nod to the traditional Imperial Army uniform from Rogue Trader.

The sculpts are pretty rough in places - I guess largely due to the fact that the figure was originally sculpted as a concept piece for the plastic Cadians, before being pressed into service as a limited edition release.
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Lieutenant Pender is a much more confident man with Priestman and Stilley at his side.

So cool... I just love the original guardsman helmet shape - echoes the mk 6 Marine helmet and gives both a common heritage I feel... why on earth did they ever do away with them! Anyway, cracking job mate, yet another inspiring idea to tuck away for a rainy day :-)

I'd like to do a couple more - probably a Sergeant at arms at the very least. I'd discounted plastics as being the wrong pose, but had forgotten the tank commander. I'll go and investigate more options :)

About Me

I've been gaming since the late 1980s - I tend to get distracted and jump from one project to another. The one constant is that I love the character of Citadel miniatures of the late 1980s and early 1990s - Warhammer, Blood Bowl, Rogue Trader.